Ideas and inspiration for a great (or Really Good) hen do

Tag Archives: pedibus

Well, it has been 3 years to the day since this hen do, which means it has taken a shocking amount of time to get it up on this blog. But it’s here now, so enjoy! Jane is my very good friend who I used to work with back in 2010/2011, and we had an amazing day on her London hen do..

Where:London Bridge Area – Beer Bike Tour (they do a lot of different areas around London)When:13July 2013How long:Saturday afternoon/eveningHow close to wedding:2.5 weeks beforeNumber of hens:9Theme: We dressed Jane up as Brendan Brady, a character from Hollyoaks she fancied, and the rest of us Hens all had a moustache in homage.Cost:£23 per person (£20 pp December to February) Minimum 7 persons

Jane had her main hen do back in Omagh where she is from originally, As I couldn’t make that and a lot of her friends and family-in-law are London based I should probbly throw her another hen do.

I wanted a reasonably priced activity in London for 9 people, and was already aware of the Beer Bike as I live in the area and often see people on it. I knew that Jane would love it, so I booked it.

http://www.pedibus.co.uk/

Everyone met in a pub round the corner from where the beer bike was leaving from, on a very sunny Saturday afternoon. We had a couple of drinks and the fun began.

We dressed Jane up as Brendan Brady from Hollyoaks (who she was obsessed with at the time).

Before the wig (Not the best, but the only one I have)

Jane as Brendan Brady

The rest of us hens all had a stick on moustache to wear. This wasn’t too great logistically on the hottest day of the year (37 degrees).

A photo of us all in moustaches before they literally slid off our faces.

We then went to get on the beer bike. As a pleasant surprise, the ‘driver’ of our bus was incredibly attractive, and really up for a laugh. Apparently he was Channing Tatum’s stunt double. I don’t know how true this was, and I don’t care.

Us on the Beer Bike with ‘Big Johnnie’ our driver

We took our own booze, and had our iPods playing some tunes on the speakers as we cycled around London Bridge / South London. It was such a hot day though, and it was hard work cycling over Tower Bridge. So hard I had to jump off and grab 2 random guys who were walking over Tower Bridge to get on the bike and help us. We paid them in cans of cider.

In conjunction with the outfit, Jane had a few rules, dares and forfeits. The main one was everytime I blew my whistle Jane had to shout “I LOVE BRENDAN BRADY FROM HOLLYOAKS SO MUCH I DRESS LIKE HIM ON THE WEEKEND”

After our 75 minutes on the bike, we had some food to soak up some of the booze, and then we finished the night at Reflex (an 80s club). Jane finished off her dares, and even managed to make the last train home!

Personalised touches

Dares: I had printed out dares for her, and a large group of blokes in the pub were intent on helping her complete them. She got a fireman’s lift off a real fireman before she finished her first drink. One of her dares was to get a tweet off a celebrity, I followed someone on Twitter who was in Hollyoaks (I followed him because of his Radio 4 work I hasten to add) so I tweeted him a picture of Jane dressed as Brendan Brady, and he very kindly tweeted back!

Forefit Wheel: I made a forfeit wheel specific to Jane for every time she didn’t obey a rule of the day, or we just felt like she should do a forfeit. The forfeits were:

Make (and then wear) a bridal veil from loo paper

Stand on a chair and sing “I’m getting married in the morning”

Do 30 seconds of Irish dancing

Tell us an embarrassing secret

Touch a pigeon

Use the men’s loos next time you go

Gargle the Wedding March

Down a pint

The Forfeit Wheel

Up close

Rules of the day: These are very much personalised towards Jane and were difficult for her to stick to.

No shots for Jane

No-one is to mention Chris’s name (anyone who does has to do a shot – apart from Jane as she is not allowed any shots)

ONE whistle blow = Jane has to shout “I love Brendan Brady from Hollyoaks so much I dress like him on weekends”

TWO whistle blows = Jane has to tell me how pleased she is that I met David Beckham this week

If we see a celebrity at least one Hen has to have to have their photo taken with them

Jane must ask permission from any Hen to do a scissor pout photos (we’re all doing a scissor pout in the moustache photo)

Her rules of the day (very specific to Jane)

Busted Quiz: Jane loves the band Busted (in a slightly terrifying stalker sort of way), so we did a Super Fan quiz for her (with forfeits if she got any answers wrong)

I think Jane enjoyed her day….

Jane’s Facebook status after the hen do

Upsides: Great way to see London. Very sociable way to spend an hour and a half. Our ‘driver’ was very fun and got involved in the banter. Relatively cheap activity for Central London. Loads of pubs to meet in/have food in. Had our own iPod playlist blaring out.

Downsides: It was VERY hot. And the bike was very hard work. Also, London is expensive! And not everyone will get the gorgeous Johnny! It wasn’t quite as I imagined with someone serving us our drinks as I had seen in Germany and I seem to remember it alluding to on the website. We just had to get our own out of our bags as we cycled along.